Asked by: Lord Jackson of Peterborough (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask His Majesty's Government why the Department for Work and Pensions and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs have stopped publishing data on tax contributions and welfare payments by nationality.
Answered by Viscount Younger of Leckie - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
Following the review by the Office for Statistics Regulation, HMRC proposed changes to 25 statistics publications in a public consultation that ran from 24 October 2022 to 16 January 2023. In response to the user consultation the annual Income Tax, NICs, tax credits and child benefit statistics for non-UK nationals release was discontinued. The consultation suggested the statistics to be of limited value to users, due to the decrease in data coverage as tax credits claimants move across to Universal Credit, and the lack of timeliness in the data.
Separately the DWP reviewed the ‘Nationality at point of National Insurance number registration of DWP working age benefit recipients’ statistics and announced in July 2022 that it would be ceasing publication of these statistics as they no longer met the purpose for which they were created. The statistics reflected the nationality status of the benefit claimants at the point of National Insurance number (NINo) registration, which does not necessarily reflect the nationality at the point of claiming the benefit, as the allocation of a NINo can be made many years, or even decades, before an individual claims a benefit. Therefore, benefit recipients who were non-UK nationals and subsequently obtained British citizenship would have been counted in those statistics as non-UK nationals.
The proposals and outcomes from the consultation on changes to HMRC statistics publications are published on GOV.UK.
HMRC does publish information on non-UK nationals in PAYE employment by nationality, region and industry on GOV.UK.
Asked by: Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the potential impact of abolishing National Insurance contributions on (a) calculating and (b) accounting pension entitlements.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes the double taxation of work is unfair. That is why we’ve cut 4p from employee NICs in the last six months which will mean the average worker receives a tax cut worth £900 this coming year and why we are committed to ending this unfairness.
Cutting NICs rates does not affect anyone’s entitlement to the State Pension or contributory benefits.
Asked by: Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of abolishing national insurance contributions on state pension entitlements.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes the double taxation of work is unfair. That is why we’ve cut 4p from employee NICs in the last six months which will mean the average worker receives a tax cut worth £900 this coming year and why we are committed to ending this unfairness.
Cutting NICs rates does not affect anyone’s entitlement to the State Pension or contributory benefits.
Asked by: Liz Kendall (Labour - Leicester West)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the potential impact of abolishing National Insurance contributions on how qualifying years for pension entitlement would be (a) calculated and (b) accounted.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Government believes the double taxation of work is unfair. That is why we’ve cut 4p from employee NICs in the last six months which will mean the average worker receives a tax cut worth £900 this coming year and why we are committed to ending this unfairness.
Cutting NICs rates does not affect anyone’s entitlement to the State Pension or contributory benefits.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 29 February 2024 to Question 15683 on National Insurance: Foster Care, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of topping-up the National Insurance contributions of foster carers who were unable to work due to the rules that were in place before 2003.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Between 2003 and 2010, foster carers could claim Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) to protect their National Insurance record. Foster carers who did not claim HRP at the time can make a retrospective claim now – guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/home-responsibilities-protection-hrp
There are no plans to extend this period to allow foster carers to claim HRP before 6 April 2003.
For periods prior to 2003, foster carers could have paid voluntary NICs to protect their National Insurance (NI) record subject to the normal time limits. Time limits for voluntary NICs are an important feature of the NI system, which operates on a pay as you go basis; the National Insurance contributions (NICs) paid now are used to fund today’s contributory benefits.
There are no plans to allow foster carers to pay voluntary NICs for periods before 2003 to top up their NI records, outside of the existing rules for voluntary NICs. This maintains fairness for other individuals who have paid voluntary NICs within the required time limits.
At Spring Budget 2023, the government increased the amount of income tax relief available to foster carers and shared lives carers. The threshold of income at which qualifying carers begin paying tax on care income was increased to £18,140 per year plus £375 to £450 per person cared for per week for 2023-24 (the weekly amount range is based on age of the child or adult under care). Both the threshold and weekly amounts will then be index-linked from 2024-25 onwards, representing a tax cut worth approximately £450 per year on average
Asked by: Wendy Chamberlain (Liberal Democrat - North East Fife)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will make it his policy to (a) collect and (b) publish management information on the number of people who have (i) had changes to their National Insurance record and (ii) are waiting to have their state pension calculation updated.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP does not publish this information as changes to a citizen’s National Insurance Record forms part of HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) function. When DWP receives notification from HMRC of a change in a citizen’s National Insurance record, DWP reviews the State Pension claim accordingly.
The vast majority of changes to a citizen’s National Insurance Record are processed by DWP within days. However, more complex cases requiring specialist caseworkers can take longer to resolve.
Asked by: Navendu Mishra (Labour - Stockport)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether he has made an assessment of the potential merits of adjusting the National Insurance (NI)/State Pension scheme rules so that any NI payments made before State Pension age are taken into account so that they can contribute to gaining a Full NI Qualifying Year.
Answered by Paul Maynard - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Work and Pensions)
No such assessment has been made.
A person's working life is the period from the beginning of the tax year (6 April) in which they are aged 16, to the end of the tax year (5 April) before the one in which they reach State Pension age (known as the Final Relevant Year).
National Insurance contributions made during an individual’s Final Relevant Year count towards their National Insurance record however, contributions made in the tax year someone reaches State Pension age do not. This is because the administration of National Insurance records is carried out in line with tax years – from 6 April one year to 5 April the next year.
Over a working life, most people will build enough Qualifying Years to maximise their state pension.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he plans to top up national insurance contributions for individuals who received foster care allowances but were not allowed to work while fostering.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
Foster carers can claim National Insurance (NI) credits known as ‘Credits for Parents and Carers’ (CPC) which count towards their State Pension. If a foster carer is unable to work due to their caring responsibilities, claiming CPC will prevent any gaps in their NI record as a result for State Pension purposes.
CPC can be claimed for periods from 6 April 2010 onwards and replaced Home Responsibilities Protection (HRP) which foster carers can claim for periods between 2003 – 2010.
Asked by: Gregory Campbell (Democratic Unionist Party - East Londonderry)
Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:
To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to the Answer of 27 November 2023 to Question 2787 on Universal Credit: National Insurance Contributions, whether he expects that all National Insurance records will be fully updated by HMRC by April 2024.
Answered by Jo Churchill - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)
DWP completed the work to send 22 million records of Universal Credit customers to HMRC in order for them to update their National Insurance records in 2023. There remain a small subset of cases that need to be worked through manually. This work is in progress and will be completed by summer 2024. Records of customers who are over, or close to state pension age that need manual work are being prioritised.
Asked by: Drew Hendry (Scottish National Party - Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether he has made an assessment of the compatibility of the issuing of section 684 notices by HMRC with the recommendations of the independent loan charge review led by Sir Amyas Morse.
Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Loan Charge is targeted at contrived tax avoidance schemes that sought to avoid Income Tax and National Insurance contributions by paying users their income in the form of loans.
In his independent review, Lord Morse recommended that the Loan Charge no longer apply to loans made before 9 December 2010. However, Lord Morse said “HMRC should continue being able to settle and investigate cases prior to this point under their normal powers where they have appropriate grounds, and a legal basis, to do so”. The government accepted this recommendation. In line with this recommendation, HMRC is still seeking to recover the tax due where it had taken the necessary steps in the past to give it the legal basis to do so.
In May 2022, the Court of Appeal said that HMRC could consider using certain provisions in the PAYE system (referred to as ‘section 684(7A)(b)’) to collect tax directly from the individual who received income through a DR scheme. HMRC using these provisions where appropriate is in line with Lord Morse’s recommendation.